S.F. jury clears Chevron of protest shootings

S.F. jury takes 2 days to acquit; Nigerian villagers to appeal

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press

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Larry Bowoto, left, of Bowoto v. Chevron, listens as attorney Bert Voorhees, right, speaks outside of the Federal Building in San Francisco, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. A federal jury has cleared Chevron Corp. of responsibility for any human rights abuses during a violent protest on a company oil platform in Nigeria a decade ago. Human rights groups had sued the company under a centuries-old law allowing foreigners to file lawsuits in U.S. courts alleging international law violations. less

Larry Bowoto, left, of Bowoto v. Chevron, listens as attorney Bert Voorhees, right, speaks outside of the Federal Building in San Francisco, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. A federal jury has cleared Chevron Corp. of ... more

Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press

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Carol Norris, left, holds up a sign at a protest at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Norris and other activists rallied against Chevron's actions in Nigeria and to mark the opening of a human rights lawsuit against Chevron, Bowoto v. Chevron, in the U.S. Federal District Court in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) less

Carol Norris, left, holds up a sign at a protest at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Norris and other activists rallied against Chevron's actions in Nigeria and to mark the opening ... more

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

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Natasha Dedrick, center, holds up signs at a protest at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Dedrick and other activists rallied against Chevron's actions in Nigeria and to mark the opening of a human rights lawsuit against Chevron, Bowoto v. Chevron, in the U.S. Federal District Court in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) less

Natasha Dedrick, center, holds up signs at a protest at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Dedrick and other activists rallied against Chevron's actions in Nigeria and to mark the ... more

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

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A speaker talks to protesters gathered in front of a Chevron gas station in San Francisco.

A speaker talks to protesters gathered in front of a Chevron gas station in San Francisco.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

S.F. jury clears Chevron of protest shootings

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A federal jury in San Francisco cleared Chevron Corp. of wrongdoing Monday in the shootings of Nigerian villagers who occupied an offshore barge in 1998 to protest the company's hiring and environmental policies.

Two men were killed and two were wounded by security forces summoned by Chevron after three days of negotiations with leaders of about 150 tribesmen from the oil-rich Niger Delta. Villagers and their supporting witnesses said they were unarmed and peaceful, but Chevron's witnesses said the protesters threatened violence, held crew members captive and demanded ransom.

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After a four-week trial, the nine-member jury deliberated less than two days before unanimously rejecting the plaintiffs' claims that Chevron was responsible for assault, inhumane treatment, torture and wrongful death. The 19 plaintiffs included the two wounded men, relatives of one of the slain men, and the family of a fourth man who was beaten and died later of unrelated causes.

Jurors left without talking to reporters. Their verdict didn't specify whether they had concluded - as Chevron argued - that the company was justified in calling for military intervention to protect its workers. They also could have found that excessive force was used but that Chevron had no reason to foresee it and therefore wasn't at fault.

The company called the verdict a vindication.

"The jury upheld our position that our response was reasonable to a dangerous hostage-taking situation where our employees were in peril," Chevron spokesman Don Campbell told reporters. He said the company sympathizes with Niger Delta residents but doesn't believe they should use violence to solve their problems.

Plaintiffs' lawyer Bert Voorhees said his clients will appeal the verdict.

"This was a difficult story to tell across several cultural barriers," he said. But the fact that the case even went to trial, despite Chevron's attempt to dismiss it, should serve notice that "corporations like Chevron can be held accountable," he said.

Standing alongside Voorhees, lead plaintiff Larry Bowoto, who still suffers the after-effects of a gunshot wound to an elbow, said "We are not hostage takers."

The suit is one of several that have been filed recently against U.S.-based corporations under the Alien Tort Claim Act, a law passed by the first Congress in 1789 that allows foreigners to sue in U.S. courts for violations of international human rights.

A similar suit by villagers in Burma against Unocal for allegedly encouraging brutality by soldiers guarding its pipeline was settled in 2005 for an undisclosed amount of money, but no jury has yet found a company responsible for human rights violations by a foreign government.

In the case of Chevron, which has a refinery in Richmond, villagers occupied a barge tethered to the company's Parabe platform, 9 miles offshore, in May 1998. They said drilling and dredging were polluting their wells and killing trees and fish, but Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary had refused to meet with them.

Plaintiffs' lawyers cited a faxed message from an official of the subsidiary to the U.S. Embassy on the third day of the protest, saying the villagers were unarmed and the situation was calm. The soldiers and a mobile police force widely known as the "kill and go" arrived the next morning on helicopters leased by Chevron.

But Chevron's witnesses said the protesters had written letters threatening violence and sea piracy, struck one or more crewmen, and poured diesel fuel on the barge and threatened to set it on fire - leaving the company with no option, its lawyers argued, but to call on the Nigerian government for help.

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